Sylens
Sylens is a main supporting character in Horizon Zero Dawn. He is a wandering traveler and researcher, and the founder of the Eclipse. He has a deep fascination with the history and technology of the Old Ones, and allies with Aloy to discover the truth behind the machines and the fate of the Old Ones. He is voiced by and modeled after Lance Reddick. History Background Sylens came upon a heavily damaged Focus in an ancient ruin. After spending weeks repairing his Focus, Sylens detected a faint signal. Curious, Sylens followed the signal to the jungles of the Jewel, where he found a buried and shattered Titan containing the corrupted AI HADES. Sylens repaired the AI to the point where it could speak, and thus a deal was struck between him and HADES. In exchange for obeying HADES and imparting on it knowledge about the new world, Sylens was given knowledge and information about the Old Ones' ancient technology. Sylens learned many academic subjects from HADES, such as physics, computer engineering, and calculus. Sylens was instrumental in creating the Eclipse cult to serve HADES' will, and developing the Focus Network that allowed Eclipse members to communicate and see what others were looking at. Wary of HADES' motivations, Sylens created a backdoor in the Focus network which allowed him to listen to all communications that occurred within the network. He also played a major role in reviving many of the robots that had been hibernating since the Faro Plague. After Sylens completed the Focus Network and began to question HADES' motives for awakening the hibernating Faro robots, HADES decided that Sylens had outlived his usefulness and ordered his death. Sylens managed to escape and has been a fugitive ever since. Allying with Aloy Sylens learned of Aloy's existence upon Olin meeting her, which also caught the attention of HADES, who sent a kill order message in the Focus network to eliminate Aloy. Initially perplexed as to why HADES saw a Nora savage as a threat, Sylens then noticed Aloy's uncanny resemblance to Dr. Elisabet Sobeck. Sylens spied on Aloy through her Focus for a length of time until he realized her potential (and usefulness) that would allow him to finally discover the secrets of the Old Ones. He made his first introduction to Aloy by contacting her Focus, but did not reveal his name, and helped her to disable Eclipse Focuses as she tried to confront Olin. Sylens later contacted her again when she was directed to the ruins of the corporate headquarters of Faro Automated Solutions, where they learned about Dr. Elisabet Sobeck and Ted Faro, and the apocalyptic events surrounding the Faro Plague and Project Zero Dawn. Afterward, Sylens made a proper introduction via hologram and helped direct her to Dr. Sobeck's last known location in U.S. Robotics Command. In the Zero Dawn facility, Aloy learned of the project and its goal of recreating the world after the Faro Plague. However, the Eclipse entered the facility and Aloy was captured by their leader, Helis. She was taken to an arena and prepared to be sacrificed to a Behemoth and several Corruptors, but Sylens appeared with several overridden machines and rescued her, revealing his connection to Helis in the process. He explained to Aloy that HADES was attempting to lead an army of Corrupted Machines to the Spire in order to capture it and broadcast a signal that would awaken all dormant Corruptors and Deathbringers, and instructed her to locate a master override device inside the GAIA Prime facility that would allow her to destroy HADES. Sylens appeared again in the ruins of the GAIA Prime facility, revealing that he had been attempting to enter the facility for years but was never able to crack the door. Aloy is able to enter, however, and learns of Elisabet's sacrifice to save GAIA Prime from premature destruction as well as Ted Faro's destruction of the APOLLO project and his murder of the Zero Dawn staff. Upon learning of Faro's actions, Sylens expressed his displeasure and lamented the waste of unfathomable ancient knowledge. Sylens appeared in person for the last time as Aloy left the facility, revealing his past connections to HADES and the Eclipse. He wished Aloy good luck and departed after giving her a lance that would help inject the Master Override into HADES. After Aloy stopped HADES from broadcasting his signal and reviving the Faro machines, HADES remained alive. Sylens, having apparently intended for this to happen, captured HADES in a mysterious lantern-like device. With HADES as his prisoner, Sylens revealed his intentions of discovering who awoke HADES in the first place: Personality Sylens is an intellectual to the core. He is a well spoken and educated individual albeit reckless in his pursuit of knowledge. From a young age, he was deeply fascinated by the technologies of the Old Ones. As such, he has made it his life's goal to discover the secrets of their demise and the world they lived in. When it comes to expanding his knowledge base and research, Sylens has very few ethical boundaries, showing no compunction in manipulating and exploiting others so long as he is able to get the answers he seeks. Sylens can be extremely blunt to the point of being deliberately callous. He was insensitive to the emotional turmoil that Aloy felt after realizing her own origins, only remarking that she had two mothers; a dead woman and a machine. Trivia * He is possibly of the Banuk, as he has the same lone wanderer mentality and the same blue circuitry body art. Gallery Ilya-golitsyn-hor-story-sylens-final.jpg|Concept art by Ilya Golitsyn Category:Humans Category:Eclipse Members Category:Characters